F3 New Orleans

Tag: T-Square

  • What we learned from BlackHawk Down…

    A beautiful, crisp Saturday morning for the Mothership, with a quick disclaimer we ….circled up.

    For the last couple of weeks, YHC has been thinking about events that have occurred in our F3 family. These include Terrabyte’s passing, illness with our F3 brother’s loved ones and the impending closure of Morning Call and loss of employment, at least temporarily, for our faithful waiter, Mike. As YHC was preparing for his Q at the Mothership during the week, YHC noticed an old favorite movie had been added to Netflix, Black Hawk Down. This film is about the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in the early nineties which resulted in the death of 19 American Soldiers, YHC noted some explicit themes in the movie such as “No Man Left Behind” and “We fight for the man next to you”. There was also some implicit themes including no man is on his own. Clearly, all of these themes are echoed in the F3 credo “Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him”. So in honor of the 19 American Soldiers who died in Mogadishu and all of our F3 Brothers going through tough and uncertain times, this Mothership beatdown will have no OYO exercises. One other note on Blackhawk Down, in the movie there was multiple references to “chalks”. After some quick research with the source of all sources, Wikipedia, a “chalk” in military terminology is a group of troops (think platoon) in an airborne assault. PAX, count off 1, 2, 3, 4 and form up into Chalks 1, 2, 3 and 4. This will be your group throughout the workout. Each Chalk designate a Chalk Q and grab a Flag.

    Mosey to Great Lawn for Warm Up

    Form rows of by chalk starting with Chalk 1 then Chalk 2 followed by Chalk 3 and 4.  Chalks try to stay in formation  Let’s begin:

    All exercises until Q yells Halt

    • Walking Soldiers
    • High Knees
    • Butt Kicks
    • Carioca

    Circle up for additional warm-up:

    • Self Love I/C X20
    • Imperial Walkers I/C X20
    • Hillbillies I/C X20

    Form your Chalks into circles on the Great Lawn for the next thang… Bear Crawl Ring of Fire:

    • Bearcrawl Counter-Clockwise till Q yells halt
      • 10 merkins in ring of fire fashion starting with the PAX to the left of the Chalk Q
    • Bearcrawl Clockwise
      • 10 wide merks Bearcrawl Counter-Clockwise till Q yells halt

    Let’s increase the difficulty!

    • Boo Boo Bearcrawl Counterclockwise Right Leg Up
      • 10 staggered right merkins in ring of fire fashion starting with the PAX to the left of the Chalk Q
    • Boo Boo Bearcrawl Clockwise Left Leg Up
      • 10 staggered left merkins in ring of fire fashion starting with the PAX to the left of the Chalk Q

    Chalks grab flag, form columns and march to road in front of Storyland.  Line up chalks in four columns facing towards museum for Indian Runs to Fountain. 

    At Fountain circle up staying with your Chalk for Red Hot Chili Pepper:

    • Right Leg Step Ups x 16; Decline Merkins x 8; Left Leg Step Ups x 16; Incline Merkins x 8
    • Right Leg Step Ups x 12; Decline Merkins x 6; Left Leg Step Ups x 12; Incline Merkins x 6
    • Right Leg Step Ups x 8; Decline Merkins x 4; Left Leg Step Ups x 8; Incline Merkins x 4
    • Right Leg Step Ups x 4; Decline Merkins x 2; Left Leg Step Ups x 4; Incline Merkins x2

    Next, down Lelong Drive for more Indian Runs in Chalks.  T-claps to Chalk 3 for hanging back to keep their chalk together.  Now you’re getting the idea!

    Mosey in Chalk to side of NOMA and partner up in Chalk for O.P.P.

    One PAX does OH Claps (O) in People’s Chair (P) while the other PAX does 20 Plank Jacks (P) Flapjack till Q yells halt.  These were done in 2 count cadence.  Let’s try to stay together on cadence Chalks!

    Time is running out so grab Flags and mosey in Chalk columns to great lawn for:

    Quick Mary:

    • Flutter Kicks I/C X20
    • Hello Dolly I/C X20

    Times up so circle around Flags in Great Lawn for CoT

    Count-Off, Name-o-rama (1 FNG who was named Twin Span as he’s from Slidell), Intentions and Prayer.

    T-claps to all the PAX who did the daily double, the Mothership and Krazy Ivan.  Southshore brought the Freedom Hammer home!

    Thank you PAX for embracing the Beatdown’s theme of no man is “on his own” in F3.  As we all go through life’s ups and downs, it feels good to know that we have our F3’ brothers to watch our six.  We are truly our Brother’s Keeper!

    NM Moleskin

    For 4 years, the PAX have been enjoying F2 and F3 at the Morning Call in City Park after the Mothership.  For most if not all of those coffeetaria’s, we have arrived to ice cold water to refresh us and been served “Hot” au laits, “Cold” iced coffees and for a brave few “Hot Black” coffees by our faithful waiter Mike.  We all know that this past weekend was the last for Morning Call and there is some uncertainty whether Mike will come back with Café du Monde.  Even if he does, he will be out of work for at least a month.  So in true F3 fashion, an operation was drummed up.  In a short week, what became known as Operation Big Tip was put into full effect to thank Mike for all of his service to the PAX.  The PAX raised $349 for Mike and a Framed Picture signed by the PAX was delivered at Coffeetaria.  YHC even noticed a tear in Mike’s eye.   The PAX should be proud of their efforts.  This is the best of F3. 

  • Jacked Up For Success

    On 10 Jan, the wind was up and the temperature was down. But that didn’t stop FroZone, T-Square, Short Bus, and Thighs from reaching our goals.

    After a short warm up and stretch, we embarked on 3 areas of progress.

    Jacked Up For Success

    • Side Straddle Hops – 40
    • Seal Jacks – 35
    • Plank Jacks – 30
    • Crossover Squat Jacks – 25
    • Smurf Jacks – 20

    Escalator To Our Goals

    We did the following TWICE around Mel Ott Park.

    • 10 – Derkins
    • 15 – Burpees
    • 20 – Merkins
    • 25 – Bobby Hurleys
    • 30 – Box Toe Touches

    Abs Ring of Fire

    A PAX did an exercise while the rest were holding our feet 6 inches from the ground. When they finished, the next PAX in the circle performed the exercise. We kept rotating around the circle until each did all of the below.

    • Flutter kicks – 10
    • LBCs – 10
    • American Warhammers – 10
    • Hello Dollies – 10
    • Super Crunches – 10

    After a quick final stretch, we moseyed back to the flag and formed our circle of trust.

    It was a good burn, but the cool air kept us looking forward!

  • Christmas came to the Westbank

    Christmas came to the Westbank

    On 20 Dec, Christmas came to the Westbank, F3 style!

    After a quick warm-up, we celebrated a Christmas tree, then we did some Reindeer Hops, and ended by opening gifts!

    Christmas Tree (Pyramid)

    Christmas Tree

    We partnered up and then did the following exercises. One partner did the exercise while the other did a half lap. Then we switched.

    • 50 – Burpees
    • 100 – Overhead Claps
    • 150 – Merkins
    • 200 – Squats
    • 150 – Merkins
    • 100 – Overhead Claps
    • 50 – Burpees

    Reindeer Hops (Caterpillar)

    Reindeer Hops

    PAX got down in low-plank position. Allow 2-3 feet between PAX. Last man box-jumps over the planking PAX to the head of the line, Indian Run style. We continued for 25 yards.

    Opening Christmas Gifts

    F3 Workout Deck

    I purchased a F3 Workout Deck in August, but never used it. Today was the day we opened it. We played a quick round of Texas Hold ’em Poker. Winner’s two cards determined the amount and type of exercise.

    • 10 – 4 count Flutter Kicks

    We ended the morning workout with name-arama, intentions, and prayers for a safe and memorable Christmas.

    Merry Christmas from everyone on the Westbank!

  • Shuttle runs in the park

    Shuttle runs in the park


    After breaking the seal of their warm car, 4 brave men set out to conquer today’s set of exercises.  The weather man said it was 36 degrees, but that didn’t stop FroZone, T-Square, ShortBus, and Thighs from adding a few layers of clothing and getting after it.

    Cold Weather WarmUp

    To warm up, we did a quick lap around the track and then 20 jumpin jacks and 20 mountain climbers.

    Dynamic WarmUp

    The blood started pumping, so we did some dynamic warm ups from one telephone pole to the next and back.

    Karaokes

    Butt Kickers

    Zombie Walking

    Backwards Run

    High Knees

    Karaokes

    First Exercise

    Then we started the workout.  We split into teams of 2.  As one did the exercise, the other partner did shoulder taps until the partner returned from their shuttle run.

    We did Shuttle Runs from telephone pole to telephone pole.

    Lunges to the first pole.

    5 – Bobby Hurleys

    Sprint to the next pole.

    10 – Diamond Merkins

    Sprint back to the first pole.

    5 – Bobby Hurleys

    Lunges back to the beginning.

    We accomplished 8 runs, or 4 rounds per man.

    Then we did a 20 count rest.

    Second Exercise

    We did shuttle runs to the same telephone poles but in the format of BLIMPS.

    B-urpees – 5

    L-unges – 10 per leg

    I-mperial Walkers – 15 per leg

    M-erkins – 20

    P-lank Jumps – 25

    S-quats – 30

    Sprint from the far telephone pole back to the start.

    We did 3 rounds with a 20 second count down in between.

    Final Exercise

    45 elbow plank

    We circled up, counted off, name-a-rama, and a prayer for the week.

    By the end, the cold weather didn’t have an affect on our motivation or spirits.  The 4 brave men that took a deep sigh when they had to open their warm car doors, had found that after a few minutes of F3 exercising they can accomplish even the coldest day in NOLA!

    Great job, guys!  Can’t wait for our next time at the Master Melvin.

  • Convergence ’18

    f3nola.com/…/uploads/2018/10/IMG_5366.mov

    In celebration of the 4 year Anniversary of the starting of F3 NOLA,  a Convergence was called at the site where it all started, the Mothership.  PAX from every AO in F3 NOLA; Northshore, Westbank, Kenner, Baton Rouge, Metairie, Mid-City, and Uptown, converged on City Park for a celebration of the past 4 years of Men growing in Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith, and the growth and success that F3 NOLA has experienced during that time.

    Rudy got the party started early with a small group that arrived at 6:30 with a quick 5K Run through City Park; around the Festival Grounds, the Lagoon and back around to meet up with waiting PAX back near the Peristyle.  8 Flags were planted in the ground at the corner of The Great Lawn and the PAX slowly began to gather.  The Detailed Disclaimer(“You can’t sue us”) was given by Triple Shift, and off we moseyed to the large lawn near NOMA.

    The Beat-down was divided into four 15 minute segments, each with a different Q taking an opportunity to lead.  Each Q was selected to represent each of the 4 years of F3’s existence.

    1st Q – Triple Shift – Led off representing the founding group that started F3 NOLA that first year

    2nd Q – Turbo Tax  – represented the 2nd year growth and addition of Northshore PAX to F3 NOLA.

    3rd Q – FracSac – represented the third year and the growth of the Metairie, and Lakeview/Mid City AO’s

    4th Q – Medulla Oblongata – YHC, represented the recent surge and growth Uptown by the recent “HNJ Invasion”

    After a quick mosey to the lawn to the side of NOMA we circled up for the a warm up.

    WARM UP  – In Cadence

    31 – Worlds Slowest, Side Straddle Hops

    10 – 6-Count Burpees

    20 – Imperial Walker Squats

    10 – Abe Vigodas

    10 – Arm Circles – Fwd & Rev

    20 – Plank Jacks

    20 – Peter Parkers

    15 – Merkins

    The Q was passed to Turbo Tax who moved the Pax over to lawn slightly closer to NOMA.  Turbo started off by asking everyone to take off their shirt and create a “Flag” by tucking it in the back of your shorts.  This generated plenty of Mumble chatter among the Pax.

    FLAG GAMES

    2 Minute Flag Games – Your shirt is your Flag, Don’t let it get pulled!

    1st Round – 2 Knee-to-Chest Jumps every time your flag gets pulled, reload and continue  pulling after jumps.

    2nd Round (x2) – Tennis Balls and a Nerf football were added as additional “Ammo”, In addition to Jumps for flag pulls, if hit with the tennis balls – 5 Merkins, hit by the football – 5 Burpees, reload flag and keep going after exercise.

    3rd Round (x2) – Same Rules as 2nd round, but no reload of flag, perform penalty exercise, Plank and wait in place till end.

    4th Round – Trophy Flags – Same rules as Round 3 but Flag puller keeps and collects flags he pulls, Person with the most flags wins.

    Not sure if anyone kept track of the winners but as Turbo Tax said we’re all WINNERS!

    The Q was then passed to FracSac.  We remained in place and lined up along the First Tree Line.

    SUICIDES

    Run to tree 1 and back 5 Burpees

    Run to tree 2 and back 5 Burpees

    Run to tree 3 and back 5 Burpees

    Run to tree 4 and back 5 Burpees

    Burpee Broad Jump to tree 1 and back

    Catalina Wine Mixers IC x 10

    Run to tree 1 and back 5 Merkins

    Run to tree 2 and back 5 Merkins

    Run to tree 3 and back 5 Merkins

    Run to tree 4 and back 5 Merkins

    KimChi lost his Applewatch in the Chaos that was Flag Games so we lined up and Bear crawled to the 4th tree while looking for the watch.  Not found, but later found by KimChi behind the area we bear crawled.  Crisis averted!

    The Q was passed to YHC and we moseyed back to the Great Lawn.

    CONVERGENCE CIRCUIT

    8 stations had been designated around the perimeter of the Great Lawn with a Flag positioned in the Center. Each station was marked with a sheet of paper with the exercise for each station.  The Pax was divided into groups at each station.   The Bobby Hurley station would provide the count of 20 reps,  while every other station did AMRAP of their designated exercise.   At Halt, Everyone ran to middle of lawn to CONVERGE and partner up for 5 Patty Cake Merkins, then rotate clockwise to the next station.  PAX was instructed to pick a different partner each time they returned to the middle between stations.  The stations were:

    Bobby Hurley’s

    Merkins

    Mountain Climbers

    Plank Jacks

    Low Slow Squats

    Jump Lunges

    Dips

    Monkey Humpers – (by the street, of course)

    One round was completed and time was getting short so we circled up for some quick Mary

    2 MINUTES OF MARY

    Dying Cock Roach IC x 20

    Wife Pleasers IC x 20

    We are done!

    COT

    Circle up for Count-O-Rama – 66 PAX!!,  Name-O-Rama 3 FNG!!

    FNG’s Named – Welcome to Blanks, Chalk Talk, and Green Screen!!

    Bring it in tight for a Sweaty Ball of Man!!  Butt Splice finished it up with a prayer.

    NMM

    We moseyed over to Morning Call  where a awesome spread of food awaited us.   Spinach Mushroom Egg Scramble, Bacon, Pork Loin, Bananas, Croissants, Bottled Water, and Iced Coffee.  Mike as usual took great care of us with plates and napkins and great service.  Rudy presented Mike with his honorary membership and a blue F3 NOLA shirt.   Some great F2 went down as we ate and drank our fill.  Big thank you to all who made it out for this awesome beat-down in the park.  Big thank you to everyone who organized and provided the food and drinks we enjoyed.  Finally, big thanks to Woz for documenting the whole event with pictures and video.   I know, I  speak for all the Q’s when I say, it was a pleasure to lead as always, and thanks for the opportunity to lead this great PAX.

    Hope to see everyone and more next year!!  SYITG!!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • The Moist-less Melvin

    Moist was supposed to have his VQ this morning.  Work called, and he could not make it so YHC jumped in to help.

    This was the 5th meeting of this AO and I am continuing to try to show them different workouts that they can use or modify for themselves.

    So with not much time to plan I reached into my old bag of tricks and found Mahatma’s Christmas tree workout, that would be the Thang with some usual Medulla modifications.

    5:00 showed on my watch and 5 PAX were ready for a beat down.  Disclaimer was give and off we moseyed to the far lot to circle up for Warm Up

     

    Warm Up

    SSH IC x20

    Imperial Walkers IC x20

    Peter Parker IC x15

    Parker Peter IC x15

    Sun Gods- Arm Circles Fwd & Rev IC x 10 each way

    Mosey back to the Park

    Did I mention I still have 6 Cinder blocks in my truck….5PAX,   PERFECT!  Grab a block!

     

    Thang 1 – Christmas tree Workout

    1 Burpee 40 Yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 15 Merkins, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 15 Merkins, 20 Alternating Step Ups, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 15 Merkins, 20 Alternating Step Ups, 25 Curls for the Girls, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 15 Merkins, 20 Alternating Step Ups, 25 Curls for the Girls, 30 Goblet Squats, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 15 Merkins, 20 Alternating Step Ups, 25 Curls for the Girls, 30 Goblet Squats, 35 Chest Press, 40 yard run out and back

    1 Burpee, 5 BobbyHurley’s, 10 Complex V-Ups, 15 Merkins, 20 Alternating Step Ups, 25 Curls for the Girls, 30 Goblet Squats, 35 Chest Press, 4o LBC’s, 40 yard run out and back

    After a 20 Count by T-Square  We had just enough time for some Mary

     

    Circle of Mary

    Willie – Penguins IC x20

    YHC – Dying Cockroach IC x15

    Thighs – Flutter Kicks IC x 20

    Frozone – Mountain Climbers IC x 15

    T-Square – (Original exercise) -Driving Mrs Daisy – Lift block straight out in front of you with straight arms rotate the block to the left, rotate to the right, return to neutral position and bring block down  to waist. IC x 10

    Mosey back to Flag.

     

    Count-o-rama, Name-o-rama, NO FNG’s, Announcement about Convergence on Oct 13th

    Intentions For Frozone’s Father, and a Holy Name family dealing with a Mom with Cancer. Prayer

    Moist you owe us a VQ.  T-Square is going to try to take the VQ next week.  EH your Westbank friends!

    Another good beat down at the Master Melvin.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

    SYITG!

     

     

     

     

     

  • Westbank Circuit Course

    Westbank Circuit Course

    As the clock struck 5 AM, 4 PAX gathered at the flag with one FNG.  This was my first Q, so I was nervous.  I wasn’t nervous for the specific leading part, but nervous about ensuring the right balance of intensity to the workout.  If we were getting up at around 4:30am for a 5am start time, I wanted to make sure that it was worth losing some sleep.  I didn’t want it to be so easy that it felt like a waste, nor so intense that it crushed our fledgling Westbank group.

    So, I decided on a circuit course around Mel Ott Park.  And wouldn’t you know, after we welcomed everyone and mosey-ed on out to our warm-up exercise, everyone proclaimed as they shuffled that they hated running and that if this workout contained running it would ruin their experience.  Great!  What I feared would happen was about to happen.  I planned a circuit course that required running.  Well, being a new Q, I didn’t have anything else prepared, so I warned them that running would be involved and to stay motivated.  Here goes:

    WarmUp 

    Windmills – 7
    DaisyPickers – 7
    Sprinklers – 7
    Hillbillies – 7
    Sun gods – 10 each direction
    Side Straddle Hop – 10
    Peter Parker – 10
    Parker Peter – 10
    Mountain Climbers – 10
    Merkins – 10

    Workout

    Circuit Course with stations (individual effort)
    Each lap = # of Reps
    1 lap = 1/3 Mile
    Station 1:  Step Ups/Box Jumps – each leg
    Station 2: Tricep Dips
    Station 3: Burpee
    Station 4: Flutter Kicks – cadence count
    Station 5: Bobby Hurley

    Each PAX did between 6 – 8 laps.

    MoM

    Cadence Count
    20 – Flutterkicks
    15 – Hello Dollies
    10 – Leg Lifts
    1 min plank

    Count-off, Name-arama, and Welcome of our new FNG – T-Squared – He is an architect from Gretna.

    At the end, we all had a good time.  Everyone was in good spirits.  The workout was challenging, but wasn’t a total disaster as I feared.  I learned a lot and am ready to participate and grow the F3 Westbank krewe.